Where fan games are concerned, Super Mario Gaiden is the very definition of a middle of the road game. It's not flashy, it doesn't anything particularly interesting and absolutely none of its ideas will impress a seasoned player, but it's a decent enough product to kill a few minutes none the less.

So if you want to know more about the game (or how it stacks up against the competition), keep reading!

Pros

Graphically, it looks okay. It's not amazing sure, but it's not ugly either.Music is alrightPhysics work to the degree they keep the game playableThere's a wide variety of power ups and new mechanics introduced

Cons

Mario's physics still feel very floaty, making it difficult to really time some jumps.1-2 has a warp zone you cannot escape from. This means waiting a long time for the timer to run out.As neat as it is, everything here has been done better elsewhere

Impressions

Gameplay6 / 10

Well, do you want the positive aspects or the negative ones?

Cause for the former, I'll give the game this much:

It mostly functions well, and can be played through to the end without the player getting frustrated by the controls or physics engine. In that sense, it's a damn lot better than many games on sites like this one.

Continuing with the positives, the level design is pretty decent too. Again, it's not extraordinary by any means, but it's good enough to be enjoyable, and avoids making things too difficult like many fan games and hacks out there.

However, there are still issues here. For instance, while Mario's physics are usable, they're also very floaty. This means that it can feel like the game is running at about 15 FPS at times, since nothing about Mario's movement feels fast or with the right amount of gravity to it.

And that's only compounded by enemies that act similar to their original selves, but perhaps not similarly enough. For instance, Boom Boom feels way too fast compared to his original SMB 3 appearance, and Thwomps have such a tiny detection radius that it's often not even worth waiting for them to fall. Just keep going and you'll probably be just fine here.

So on a gameplay level, this game is okay. Just a bit buggy around the edges and with somewhat questionable enemy physics in certain cases.

Graphics7 / 10

Graphically, Super Mario Gaiden looks okay. Sure, the art style is a bit of a mishmash, and as people have pointed out the game uses numerous sprite sheets for each levels' graphics, but it does look decent enough none the less. Plus, it's not generic Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World graphics, so that's good, right?

Definitely a game worthy of a 7/10 here.

Sound5 / 10

As for the music... I honestly have no clue what to rate this. It's not traditional SMB 3 music (or music I could recognise from other mainstream Mario titles), so that's a plus... yet at the same time it's not particularly interesting in its own right either. The songs just blend into the background and aren't really memorable in the slightest.

I'll just give it a 5/10 I guess.

Replay6 / 10

Like with many other demos, Super Mario Gaiden doesn't really offer much in the way of replay value. You've got no secret levels, few secret rooms, no collectables to find or anything to really keep someone past the final level. It's very barebones and would theoretically rate very poorly on the review scale...

Problem is, that's not fair on the game. I mean, it's a demo. What do you expect to see in terms of replay value? A game with say, 6 levels is never going to keep someone playing for more than five minutes at the most.

So while it'd be more technically accurate to give it a 1/10, I'll rate this one 6/10 simply because it's a bloody demo. You don't expect nuch replay value from those.

Final Words

All in all, Super Mario Gaiden is a perfectly average demo for what seems like it'll be a perfectly average fan game. It doesn't really do anything too wrong (minor bugs and oversights non withstanding), but at the same time it doesn't provide any reason to recommend it either.

So yeah, download if you want a six level generic Mario game. Avoid if you want something with real personality or anything resembling a unique selling point.